Matthew Casey: Compassion for terrorists?

Thursday

Aug 27, 2009 at 12:01 AMAug 27, 2009 at 6:23 AM

On Dec. 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport bound for New York. Approximately 38 minutes after takeoff, an explosive device concealed in a suitcase detonated, tearing a hole in the 747’s fuselage. The plane disintegrated in the skies over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Matthew Casey

On Dec. 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport bound for New York. About 38 minutes after takeoff, an explosive device concealed in a suitcase detonated, tearing a hole in the 747’s fuselage. The plane disintegrated in the skies over Lockerbie, Scotland.

All 259 passengers on board and 11 people on the ground were killed. Among the 270 victims were 189 Americans, including 35 Syracuse University students flying home for Christmas break after spending a semester abroad.

On Aug. 20, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi — the only person ever convicted of the bombing — was released from his Scottish prison. Megrahi, who is terminally ill, is now back in his native Libya, a free man.

Megrahi served less than 12 days in prison for each of his 270 victims.

To fully appreciate the consequences of Megrahi’s release, some historical context is necessary.

In 1969, Muammar Gaddafi seized control of Libya in a military coup d’état. Libya quickly became known as a notorious sponsor of terrorism and an ambitious agitator of the west.

In 1973, Libya unilaterally claimed possession of the waters within the Gulf of Sidra. In 1981, the United States conducted a freedom of navigation operation and dispatched a naval force into what had traditionally been considered international waters within the Gulf. Shortly thereafter, two Libyan fighters confronted a pair of American F-14s and were shot down.

In March 1986, the U.S. Navy again entered the Gulf of Sidra and was again confronted by Libyan forces; this time, two Libyan patrol boats were sunk. In response, Gaddafi called on Arabs to launch terrorist strikes against American interests around the world.

In April 1986, the Libyan government was implicated in the bombing of a Berlin disco that killed three American servicemen and injured dozens of others. President Ronald Reagan ordered the retaliatory bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi. Gaddafi was unharmed, but his infant daughter was reportedly killed.

Two and a half years later, Pan Am 103 was blown out of the sky.

Investigators identified the type of explosive used on Flight 103 and quickly focused on Libya as a prime suspect. Indictments were issued in 1991, and in 1999, Libya allowed Megrahi to be extradited for trial. Megrahi was tried in the Netherlands under the rules of Scottish law and was sentenced to life in prison in January 2001.

Libya ultimately admitted responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am 103 and agreed to pay $2.7 billion to the families of the victims. Since then, UN sanctions have been lifted and Libya was removed from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.

The Bush administration resumed diplomatic relations with Libya and issued an executive order granting legal immunity for its government, effectively terminating all pending and future lawsuits related to Libyan terrorism.

President Reagan once described Gaddafi as a “mad dog.” In July, President Barack Obama and Gaddafi shook hands at the G8 meeting, and as recently as two weeks ago, Sen. John McCain offered him effusive praise. Libya now has a seat on the UN Security Council, and Gaddafi is scheduled to speak before the General Assembly in New York on Sept. 23.

Seemingly forgotten in the rush to portray Libya as a model citizen of the world is that fact that its unelected leader is an admitted mass murderer and unrepentant terrorist. Perhaps Libya’s massive oil reserves have something to do with the west’s eagerness to bury the past along with Gaddafi’s victims. The real reason is undoubtedly far more nuanced, but no less unjustified.

That brings us to the release of Megrahi. He is 57 and suffers from an advanced case of prostate cancer that is expected kill him within three months. Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, decided that sending him home to die was the “compassionate” thing to do.

Upon his return to Libya, Megrahi was met at the airport by hundreds of cheering supporters. In a released statement, Megrahi maintained his innocence and vowed to offer new evidence to clear his name. Maybe O.J. Simpson can help him find the real killers.

Regardless, questions about his guilt were not the basis for his release. MacAskill told CNN that Megrahi “was justly convicted, but we’re allowing him some mercy to return home to die.”

Compassion is among the noblest of all human traits, but it should be tempered by common sense, not driven by misguided naïveté. No good can come from recognizing the humanity of someone capable of such an inhuman act.

Unlike his victims, Megrahi will die in peace, surrounded by the faces of his loved ones. Based on the enormity of his crimes, the last thing Megrahi should see before he dies are the bars of his prison cell. His nation’s leader deserves the same fate.

Read more from Matthew Casey at matthewcasey.net.

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